City Council postpones decision on abandoned carwash

Daisy Chavez/South County Newspapers - Interim City Manager Brent Slama attends his last City Council meeting after six years of service to the city of Greenfield.

GREENFIELD – After seven years of service to the city of Greenfield, Interim City Manager Brent Slama stepped down from the temporary position and also his permanent position of community development director.

Many members of the community thanked Slama for his service during one of the roughest periods in Greenfield’s history. Under his 18-month tenure, he was at the helm of the city for the fallout of the police audit, shared police services with Soledad that resulted in a referendum, a retiring chief of police, recall election and a budget crisis. Slama starts his new job in Soledad Nov. 12.

In other council matters, Mayor John Huerta acknowledged the work done by the Greenfield Police Department for the response on Oct. 16, and also the work they did in recovering $2,000 of stolen funds from the high school.

Under public hearings, the council considered the recommendation from the planning commission regarding the abandoned carwash on El Camino Real.

Carmen and Manuel Barron were there to plead with the council to allow them to use their business for its intended purpose.

“The carwash was abandoned years ago,” said Slama. The problem was that the CR zoning changed after 2007 and no longer allows that area to be used for automotive uses — when the Barrons purchased the property. The zoning code was written in response to the general plan in 2005, when things looked better for the city in a different economic climate. “The commercial downtown core goes down Walnut past Elm to the high school,” Slama said.